We throw around this term a lot in the management profession, in the coaching profession, really everywhere in business – top thinker. 

But how often do we really interrogate that title? Because, really, wouldn’t we all like to think of ourselves as top thinkers?

In politics, it’s the journalists that hold politicians to account. In the world of management, there are two former journalists who are holding these top thinkers to account as well. Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove used to write columns for The London Times, when they realized they could have a bigger impact connecting these thinkers directly.

As the founders of Thinkers50, an organization that comes together every two years to celebrate the true top thinkers, Stuart and Des have brought their skills of commentary and curation from the front page to a much larger audience.

So what makes a top thinker, truly?